During a recent visit to Bristol I went into the Three Tuns, this pub is the CAMRA Bristol and district Pub of the Year winner for 2012 and in my opinion is well deserving of the recognition.

I like to go into pubs I have never been into, even better if they turn out to be fantastic, it was near the end of my pub walk on the day that I went into the Three Tuns in Bristol, this was probably a good thing as I really don’t think I would have left had it not been my lift home that caused me to leave – and then I would not have got many pubs in that day.

The first thing any pub is going to be judged by is their selection of beers, the Three Tuns is an Arbor Ales pub so naturally they have a few on, at the time I went in they had four Arbor and two guest beers. Yeovil – POSH IPA and West Berkshire Brewery – Dr Hexter’s Healer were the guests, a good complimentary choice I thought. Being a fan of Arbor Ales the selection was very welcome.

The guy behind the bar was friendly and greeted me as I entered, another plus (it is sad that I even have to think about this, surely this should be a given for a pub) and he was knowledgeable about beer. We discussed the range of Arbor Ales and he gave me a few pointers on which I would prefer.

I went with a single hopped Motueka, a stunning beer and quickly becoming one of my favourite hops. The beer was served perfectly and was in top condition. It is interesting the increasing number of single hop beers, I rather like the trend, my only criticism would be that breweries seem to brew them one at a time so if you are like me and try a large number of beers in between single hopped beers you might miss out on the differences – a good argument for breweries to bottle them if possible.
Next I went with a recommendation and tried By Zeus a 6%ABV hoppy monster of a beer, again by Arbor (when in Rome and all that). Another strongly hoppy beer but this time made using several hops, rather nice and deceptive in strength, if you get the chance and you like hops then give this one a go.

The pub itself was clean and welcoming with plenty of seating, I was lucky and had it to myself being there on a Saturday afternoon but I am sure this place gets packed in the evenings. I intend to add this one to my future visits to Bristol and will definitely be recommending it to friends.